


the end times

by SmoshArrowverseFan



Category: Total Drama (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, F/F, F/M, First Kiss, Hurt/Comfort, Jashawn Week, Multi, Zombie Apocalypse, also there's a dog in this, canon-typical amy being a horrible sister, courtney and duncney are mentioned but not like. there, jashawn week 2020, this is my only contribution to jashawn week so i made it a whole fuckin thing, what can i say? i love zombie aus
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:21:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26312566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SmoshArrowverseFan/pseuds/SmoshArrowverseFan
Summary: “Jasmine,” He muttered under his breath as the zombies changed course. He got his leg free and scrambled up to the rooftop, before glancing back at the girl in question. She was holding a large stick, and seemed to be repeatedly whacking the zombies with it. She was doing well at fending them off, but she wasn’t exclusively aiming for the head, and Shawn was pretty sure her stick was going to break. Shawn paused for a moment. Helping her would be going against at least four of his cardinal rules, but to be fair, she did save him first. If he didn’t save her, and then came across her four years into the apocalypse with a missing arm or something, she’d probably take her revenge on him for leaving her behind. Shawn had to help her in that case.It wasn’t because he liked her, or anything. Definitely not that.Written for Jashawn week 2020, but it turned into this whole thing.
Relationships: Duncan & Scott, Jasmine/Sammy "Samey" (Total Drama), Jasmine/Shawn (Total Drama), Jo & Duncan, Jo/Brick McArthur, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Shawn & Sammy (Total Drama), they're all either dating or friends with the exception of amy who is a bitch and also barely there
Comments: 6
Kudos: 9





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> well, i wrote the vast majority of this last night, hopped up on redbull, after watching three episodes of z nation with my dad. and honestly? i'm pretty fucking proud of it ngl.
> 
> this is my sole contribution to jashawn week but it turned into this huge thing lmfao. zombie aus are my jam, and honestly, so is zombie everything. literally two of my favorite things in the world are total drama and zombie stories. third place is rollercoasters, but sadly, there are no rollercoasters in this. altho if you would like to see zombies and rollercoasters, watch zombieland, it's pretty good.
> 
> i've barely read over this so it might be a little wonky. pls lmk if u find anything noticeable :)
> 
> anyway. thanks to @alenoah on tumblr for hosting this week, it was so much fun to see everyone's work, and also to participate at the very end lmao.
> 
> be aware that this is a zombie story, so expect the typical zombie grossness and stuff. a character throws up in chapter two as well. the characters end up going to a pharmacy and picking up medicine (like painkillers/cough medicine and such), and there are mentions of food throughout the story. just trying to cover my bases and make sure nobody's reading anything they're uncomfortable with :)
> 
> anyway, i hope you all enjoy!!

While Jasmine had only been in Alberta for about a month, but already, she had established a few routines. There was a cute little coffee shop she liked to go to after school on Fridays to complete her homework, and a pizza place that she and her host family would order from some weekends. Her favorite routine, though, was her occasional trips to the nearby gas station on the way to or from school. She would often take her little sister to her local convenience store back home, so stopping by when she was feeling a little down or homesick always lifted her mood.

That was where she ended up on a thick Tuesday morning before school. She picked up a mint Clif bar and headed to the back of the store to the slushie machines, where she grabbed a cup and picked her flavor. Coke was always a safe bet, but she was in the mood for something else. Her eyes caught on the Orange Crush flavor. That sounded good. She was in the middle of filling her cup when she heard a small commotion to her left and glanced over.

A guy around her age was clamoring to pick up the cans that he had apparently dropped on the floor. Jasmine’s eyes widened slightly when he saw that they were all energy drinks and iced coffees. The guy gathered his things and stood up again, and Jasmine got a good look at him. He was pretty cute, if a little disheveled. Jasmine felt a sudden cool sensation, and realized that she had gotten so distracted that she had overfilled the cup, and slushie was dripping onto her hand. She grabbed some napkins to clean off and snapped a lid on the drink. By the time she looked back in the boy’s direction, he had disappeared in the store again.

Jasmine grabbed a Clif bar on her way to the checkout, and when she emerged from the shelves to get in line, she found herself directly behind the guy from before. He happened to be piling his ungodly amount of caffeinated drinks onto the counter in front of the extremely tired looking clerk. Jasmine spotted a pack of beef jerky, a few Clif bars, and some sour patch kids among the drinks and cracked a smile.

“You prepping for the end times?” She asked as the cashier was going through the process of scanning the items. The boy startled slightly and turned to face her.

“Absolutely. Gotta have the proper fuel when the zombies come. You never know how long you’re going to have to keep guard,” He said, before shrugging. “Plus, I ran out of sour patch kids.”

Jasmine let out a small laugh. He was kind of cute, in a dorky way. “Amen to that. I don’t have much experience with zombies, but I’ve had my fair share of nasty experiences with wild animals. If I hadn’t been so alert in the past, I wouldn’t have noticed them in time to get away.”

The guy raised an eyebrow. “You’re a wilderness expert then? Those are good skills to have in case of a zombie apocalypse. I’ve read a few guides on flora and fauna, and I watch survival youtube videos all the time, but you’ve probably got way more hands on skill than I do.”

This guy was funny. Jasmine kind of liked it, actually. This was one of the most interesting conversations she’d had in a while. Most people, especially since she’d arrived in Canada, were intimidated by her at first, but this guy seemed unfazed by her height. It was refreshing. “If you want, maybe I could teach you a few things?” She offered. The guy paused for a moment, considering this.

“I tend to keep my distance from strangers… you never know who’ll slip up, or who’s hiding a bite. But you seem more than capable, and I bet I could learn a lot of useful skills from you. So… sure.”

Jasmine grinned. “Great! Do you want my phone number?” The guy nodded, before pulling a flip phone out of his vest. A flip phone. Of course this guy had a flip phone. They exchanged phones, and she added herself as a contact before handing it back. When the guy handed her phone back, she glanced down at the contact.

“Shawn, huh? I’m Jasmine,” She grinned. Shawn smiled back.

“Nice to meet you, Jasmine. I hope you don’t get eaten by the undead before we see each other again,” He said. Jasmine giggled. Yeah, he was pretty cute.

The cashier coughed behind them. “Um, excuse me? I’ve been done scanning your items for like… five minutes, and there’s a line, so if you’re finished…?” He trailed off. Jasmine felt her face heat up in embarrassment, as Shawn gave a quick apology and gathered his bags. He gave one last wave to Jasmine before heading out the door. As the cashier was checking out her items, she found herself smiling again. It had been a good start to her day.

* * *

Shawn had had a long day. Part of that may have been attributed to his lack of sleep, but also, school just sucked. He didn’t feel comfortable in large groups of people (they make it easy for a zombie to go unnoticed in a crowd, and once you do notice, well, it’s because half the crowd’s already been turned), and school was exactly that. His classes were boring for the most part, and his social life was pretty much nonexistent. Very few people humored his fear of the undead, and those who did, he kept at arms length.

He had liked the girl he met that morning, though. Jasmine. She seemed plenty capable, not to mention, she was really pretty. Shawn felt his mind wandering toward thoughts of Jasmine throughout the day. It was a bit concerning, since seventy three point six percent of all men who die in zombie movies die because the girl they love becomes a zombie, and when it comes time to cut her head off, they get all sentimental about it and they hesitate. That’s just common knowledge. And whatever this crush was, Shawn was going to have to shake it. He liked Jasmine well enough, but they were only hanging out to exchange survival tips. No romance involved.

Of course, the universe has an odd way of flipping your expectations on their head.

Shawn was heading home after his excruciatingly boring and stressful day at school, when he heard a commotion in a back alley. Immediately, the hairs on his neck stood on end and he ducked back behind the wall. Sure, it could be a couple of raccoons digging around in a dumpster, but it could also be the living dead, and Shawn didn’t want to take any chances. He glanced around and took note that he was on a pretty empty stretch of road. Just as he made the decision to cross the street and avoid the alley completely, he felt something lunge at him from behind.

He stumbled back, spinning around with a wild look in his eye. He’d made a rookie mistake, and forgotten to look over his shoulder. Sure enough, behind him was an honest to god zombie. Shawn was thrown off-guard for a moment, but he’d prepared for this. He glanced around and noticed a wooden plank leaned up against a dumpster in the alley. He grabbed it, brandishing it above his head.

“Eat this, zombie scum!” He said, before whacking the oncoming zombie over the head. It stumbled back slightly, but continued to amble forward. A second zombie rose up from the alley and joined the other. Shawn had been right to be cautious about that, at least. He took a few steps back to prepare himself, before a third zombie blindsided him. He barely managed to push that one off and stumble back into the alley.

He was being sloppy. He took a deep breath and reoriented himself. He’d gotten backed into a corner, which was never good, but he could work with this. He glanced at the wall behind him. No ladder, but if he pulled the dumpster over somehow, he could climb up from there. He glanced back to see that the zombies had nearly reached the dumpster, but he still had a little time. He ran forward and started to drag the dumpster back with him, using it as a barrier between himself and the zombies. Shawn moved as quickly as he could, adrenaline pumping through his veins as he went, finally bringing it close enough to get on top of.

He wasted no time in clambering on top and getting a good grip on the wall. Shawn had just started to climb when he felt a tug on his ankle. One of the zombies had grabbed onto it and was not letting go. He shook his foot around, but the zombie was stronger than he would have thought from all of the movies he’s researched. Shawn figured it was probably because this one was clearly fresh, and hadn’t decayed as much.

“So not the time…” He mumbled to himself as he twisted his foot to avoid getting bitten. He felt himself getting pulled down, and continued kicking out in desperation, when a sharp whistle from the other end of the alley got the zombie’s attention.

“Hey, uglies! Over here!” Came a voice Shawn recognized immediately.

“Jasmine,” He muttered under his breath as the zombies changed course. He got his leg free and scrambled up to the rooftop, before glancing back at the girl in question. She was holding a large stick, and seemed to be repeatedly whacking the zombies with it. She was doing well at fending them off, but she wasn’t exclusively aiming for the head, and Shawn was pretty sure her stick was going to break. Shawn paused for a moment. Helping her would be going against at least four of his cardinal rules, but to be fair, she did save him first. If he didn’t save her, and then came across her four years into the apocalypse with a missing arm or something, she’d probably take her revenge on him for leaving her behind. Shawn had to help her in that case.

It wasn’t because he liked her, or anything. Definitely not that.

He jumped down from the dumpster with all the agility of a teenage boy who practices jumping onto and off of dumpsters. He grit his teeth and charged at the zombie on the left, slamming it over the head with his wooden board. It crumpled to the ground, and thankfully, it didn’t look like it was getting back up. As he turned to face the second zombie, Jasmine took his cue and went for the one on the far right.

“You came back!” She said, repeatedly hitting the zombie over the head with her stick. Shawn grunted as he pushed his own zombie toward the wall.

“Figured it was only fair. Don’t want to be owing any favors in the apocalypse,” He said. Jasmine made a noise of acknowledgement, spinning around so that her zombie was facing the street, before kicking at its’ legs and knocking it to the ground.

“Of course. Y’know, I didn’t think you were entirely serious about the whole zombie thing, but I guess you really were onto something,” She said.

Shawn backed his zombie against the wall, and swung the board one last time. There was an audible crunch, and it crumpled to the ground. Shawn turned to see that Jasmine had thrust her stick straight through her own zombie’s eye, and was now breathing heavily. Shawn let out a dry laugh. “Yeah, guess I was. That’ll show my calc teacher, huh?”

Jasmine laughed. “Guess so.”

After taking a moment to catch his breath, Shawn straightened up. “So, I guess we should be getting going. You never want to stay out in the open for too long. Which direction are you headed?” Jasmine pointed down the street in the direction Shawn had been going.

“That way, I guess. I should probably check in with my host family, just to make sure they’re alright.”

Shawn nodded. “Yeah, well, be careful. You don’t want to get too attached in the apocalypse. I’ve watched a lot of zombie movies, and one of the most common causes of death in a zombie apocalypse, other than not securing doors and windows, or not checking a room you enter properly, is related to attachment to loved ones.”

Jasmine raised an eyebrow. “That so?” She said drily. Shawn swallowed.

“I mean, yeah?” He paused, before going against his better judgement for the second time in the past five minutes. “But, uh, that being said, I’m already going that direction, so if you wanted to head over together to make sure they’re okay…?” He trailed off. Jasmine looked him over, seemingly looking for something. Shawn couldn’t be sure what. After a moment, though, she sighed.

“There is safety in numbers after all, and you can handle yourself well. Yeah, you can tag along,” She said. Although Shawn was trying his best to convince himself that he was purely sticking with Jasmine from a survival standpoint, he knew that it was more than that. He’d only known her for a day, but she’d already humored his zombie rambling, and then, saved him from actual zombies. She truly knew the fastest way to a guy’s heart, that was for sure.

Shawn followed Jasmine out of the alley.

* * *

Sammy’s day had been terrible. Not that a terrible day was anything particularly out of the ordinary when she lived with Amy, but this one really took the cake. Up until about three pm, it had been the typical brand of horrible, with Amy belittling her, pushing her around, making her carry all of her books, and “accidentally” spilling her orange juice on Sammy’s shirt. But at three, in the middle of cheer practice, things had taken a turn for the outright gruesome.

Amy had been berating Sammy on her shaky arms, when there was a banging on the gym doors. At first, Amy had barely paused in chewing Sammy out, but the banging was persistent. Amy rolled her eyes, stomping over to the doors. She pulled them open with a loud groan.

“We have the gym, booked, so whatever it is you need, you’d better-“ Before Amy could finish her sentence, the person at the door lunged forward. Barely thinking, Sammy, dashed over and pulled Amy out of the way. In doing so, she got a full view of the small crowd of people outside of the gym doors. They all ambled forward, their expressions blank. Sammy stumbled back, still clutching Amy’s arm.

“What- what are you doing?” Sammy asked. She got no response from the crowd, only dazed groans as they pushed through the open doors. Sammy pulled Amy away from the crowd and back toward the rest of the squad, where Amy shook her sister’s hand off of her arm.

“What are we gonna do?” Asked Mikaela, one of the freshman. Amy stood up straighter, and put on her most commanding voice.

“Those people are clearly unwell, so here’s what we do. Whatever they have might be contagious, and they’re blocking the door, so we’re gonna have to climb out through the windows,” She said. The rest of the squad hung onto her every word.

“We could get up there from the bleachers?” Sammy suggested. Amy gave her look of annoyance.

“Right. We could use the bleachers. I was about to say that, Samey.”

Sammy held her gaze for a moment, but finally looked away away.

“There’s still a bit of a climb from there. We could boost each other up,” Offered Taylor. Amy smiled at her.

“Good idea, Taylor. Then, we’ll lift up whoever’s last.”

One of the juniors, Riley, glanced at the small horde who were still approaching. “Well, we’d better get moving, they’re almost here.”

Amy nodded, and the squad dashed over to the nearest row of bleachers. Sammy reached the top first, with Amy coming a moment after. She turned to Sammy and grinned.

“Boost me up!” She said, not waiting for a response before practically climbing on top of her sister. Amy quickly clambered up to the ledge and unlatched the window. “Alright, Samey, you boost the rest of the girls up. I’ll make sure everyone gets over and out safely. And Samey? For god’s sake, keep your legs steady this time.”

Before Sammy had a chance to argue, the rest of the girls were taking Amy’s lead and using Sammy as a ladder. She helped them up, and once the last one was safely out the window, only Sammy and Amy remained in the building. Sammy glanced behind her at the horde that was slowly clambering up the bleachers, before turning back to her sister and reaching her hand up. Amy grabbed on and started to pull her up, before pausing and fixing Sammy a cold smile.

“Amy…” Sammy pleaded, the horde getting closer. Amy leaned down so that her face was just a few inches away from Sammy’s.

“Sorry Samey. You have always been quite the butterfingers. Whoops,” She said, before letting go of her sister’s hand and jumping out the window without looking back.

Sammy scrambled to her feet, tears stinging her eyes. Amy had left her in the gym with all these… sick people. If Sammy didn’t know any better, she’d say they were zombies, but that was ridiculous, of course. Zombies weren’t real. Still, she figured as she took in the approaching horde, it was the only explanation that made any sort of sense. She glanced around. She needed to get somewhere that the zombies couldn’t reach her.

Her eyes caught on a thick rope that was suspended from the ceiling. She figured it was one of those climbing ropes, judging by the little bike horn taped near the top, but it likely hadn’t been used in a while. It was looped through itself so that it wasn’t hanging down. Sammy glanced around, looking for any other option, but saw nothing. Great. There was a slim chance she could make the jump and grab on, and even if she did, there was only so long that she could keep her grip up. Still, it wasn’t like she had much of a choice. It was that, or the ever-approaching crowd of… zombie-like people.

Sammy took a deep breath. She was an athlete. She could do this. Taking a running start from the top row of the bleachers, she leapt forward and reached out for the rope, desperately grabbing once she hit it. As soon as she got a grip, she wrapped her legs around it. The rope swung back and forth. Sammy felt absolutely terrified. There was no way she could keep this up for long, and the horde showed no signs of leaving. With nothing else to do, she resorted to her last hope, and began to shout for help.

* * *

Jasmine and Shawn were about two blocks out from her host family’s house when they passed the high school. It wasn’t the one Jasmine went to, since she’d gotten a scholarship for a private school a ways into the city. She assumed it wasn’t Shawn’s, either, since he’d been coming from the other direction. However, she paused when she heard shouting coming from inside. Shawn glanced at her when she stopped.

“Something wrong, Jasmine?” He asked. Jasmine nodded.

“Yeah, you hear that? Sounds like someone’s in trouble,” She said, already determined to help out whoever it was. Shawn rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

“We should- we should probably keep going. Whoever it is might already be bitten, anyway,” He said, but Jasmine could tell that his heart wasn’t really in it. She fixed him with a firm look.

“Come on, Shawn. They’re a living person. We have to help them,” She said. Shawn glanced away, shifting nervously from side to side, before nodding.

“You’re right. As much as my survival instincts are telling me to run… I can’t,” He said. Jasmine shot him a grin.

“I knew you were a good guy! Now, come on. We shouldn’t waste time,” She said, running up to the school with Shawn right behind her. She paused, listening for the source of the noise, before seeing an open window a ways off the ground leading to what looked like a gym.

“Over there,” Shawn said, almost as soon as she saw it. Jasmine nodded.

“Right. Do you need a boost, or can you make it up there on your own?” She asked.

“It’ll be faster if you boost me,” Shawn replied, and Jasmine obliged, lifting the shorter boy up over her shoulders. When she looked back up at him once he’d safely scrambled onto the ledge, his face was a little flushed, but Jasmine attributed it to the adrenaline.

“What’s it look like in there?” She asked. He turned to survey the room.

“Zombies on the bleachers below me, and they’re headed towards… hold on a second. That’s a girl. Hey, girl!” He shouted, presumably getting the attention of both the girl and the zombies, if the loud shuffling of feet that Jasmine could hear was any indication. Shawn glanced back over his shoulder at Jasmine.

“Okay, this is a gym, so I’m gonna run down to the supply closet for weapons. That should also draw the zombies to me. You get in her, get under the girl, and catch her, okay? Then come to me,” He said quickly. Jasmine nodded.

“Got it.”

As soon as she acknowledged the plan, Shawn jumped down to the other side. Jasmine climbed up to the window, which was relatively easy since the bricks protruded enough that there were solid hand and footholds. She hoisted herself over the ledge and took in her surroundings. Sure enough, Shawn had lead the zombies to the other side of the room, and there was a tiny blonde girl gripping a dangling rope as if her life depended on it. Which, well. It probably did.

Jasmine didn’t waste any time in getting off the bleachers and standing under the girl.

“Let go, I’ll catch you!” Jasmine called up. The girl gave her a frightened look, although that might have just been because of her general situation, before it turned to one of determination. She nodded, and Jasmine stretched out her arms and widened her stance as she prepared to catch the girl. “Don’t worry, I’ve done this before!” That was a lie, but it would hopefully make the girl feel more comfortable. Apparently it did the trick, as a moment later, the girl let go of the rope. Jasmine moved slightly to the left and caught the girl perfectly in her arms. Instinctually, Jasmine pulled her closer toward herself in an attempt to comfort the girl.

“You alright to stand on your own?” Jasmine asked after a moment. The girl nodded.

“I think so,” She said, and Jasmine helped her back to her feet, holding onto her arm as the girl got her bearings, before turning back to Shawn.

He was currently warding off the zombies with a large hockey stick, and seemed to have worked his way through about half of the small horde. Still, Jasmine figured he wouldn’t mind an assist.

“I’m gonna go help out Shawn, alright? You can stay here,” She said to the girl. The girl frowned.

“Are they… are they really zombies?” She asked. Jasmine nodded.

“Seems like it. They certainly seemed like they wanted to take a bite out of you,” Jasmine joked, but it didn’t get a laugh. The girl merely nodded.

“Alright.”

Jasmine moved towards Shawn, and to her surprise, the girl followed. Jasmine looked at her in disbelief. “You don’t have to come with,” She said. The girl merely shrugged.

“You guys saved my life. I’m pretty sure I’m running on pure adrenaline right now, so I can hold off on collapsing until after I give you guys a hand,” She replied. Jasmine would’ve tried to talk the girl out of it, but they didn’t exactly have an abundance of time, and on top of that, she recognized the girl’s determined expression.

“Alright,” Jasmine said as they reached the pile of sports equipment Shawn had pulled out of the supply closet. “Let’s smash some heads.”

She picked up the first thing she saw, which happened to be a lacrosse stick, and started going at the now significantly smaller crowd of zombies. A glance to her left saw that the girl had picked up a wooden baseball bat, and Jasmine was impressed with the ferocity at which she was going for the zombies. A short ways away, Shawn hadn’t slowed down a bit, brandishing his hockey stick fiercely. The three of them made quick work of the remaining zombies, although their clothes certainly weren’t spared. When Jasmine finally got a good look at her companions, they were both splattered with blood and weird bits that she didn’t even want to think about. A quick glance at own clothes showed that she wasn’t faring any better.

“Well then,” Jasmine said, straightening up and reaching out a hand to the girl. “I’m Jasmine.”

The girl took it. “Same- I mean, Sammy. My name’s Sammy”

Shawn stepped closer to the pair. “Shawn. And, uh, we should really get going.”

Sammy let out a breathy laugh. “Shawn… you’ve got red on you.”

Shawn’s eyes widened. “You’ve seen Shaun of the Dead?” He shook his head as if to clear his thoughts. “No, wait, we really do have to go. You’ve got good taste in movies, though.”

Jasmine was pretty lost.

“Where are you guys headed?” Sammy asked, picking her bat up off the ground. She wiped a bit of the gore off onto her skirt, and instantly made a face of regret.

“Shawn’s taking me to check on the family I’m staying with. What about you?” Jasmine asked. Sammy’s face dropped.

“I, um… I’m not sure,” She said, and Jasmine could tell that she had accidentally hit a nerve somehow.

“Hey, why don’t you come with us, then?” She offered. Shawn made no objections, surprisingly. Or, well, not so surprisingly. Jasmine had figured out pretty quickly that he was a lot more willing to trust people than he let on.

Sammy immediately brightened. “Really? You’d let me?”

Jasmine laughed. “The way you handled yourself back there? Of course!”

The other girl beamed. “Thank you so much, I won’t let you down!” She said, running forward and pulling Jasmine into a hug. Somewhat surprised, but not unpleasantly so, Jasmine wrapped her arms around the smaller girl. Sammy was a strong hugger.

After a few seconds, Shawn cleared his throat. “I, uh, really wasn’t kidding. We should go, now.”

“Right, sorry!” Sammy pulled away sheepishly.

“Which way out?” Jasmine asked. Shawn frowned.

“It’s probably best to head back out the window, since we don’t know what’s down that hallway, and I don’t feel like fighting off any more of the undead right now.”

Jasmine nodded. “Yeah, I’m pretty beat. Window it is, then.”

The three of them climbed the bleachers at a good pace, although Jasmine could tell that all three of them were starting to feel the effects of the afternoon. Once they reached the top, Jasmine spoke up.

“We ought to throw our weapons over first, and then I’ll boost you both, sound good?” She said. The other two nodded, and they proceeded to toss their improvised weapons out the window. Jasmine turned to Sammy.

“You first, alright?” She said. The shorter girl’s eyes widened slightly before she nodded, and Jasmine wasted no time in boosting her up to the ledge. Once Sammy had jumped over, she turned to Shawn. “Your turn.”

In no time, Shawn was up and over, and then it was Jasmine’s own turn. She jumped up and grabbed onto the ledge, grunting as she pulled herself up, before swinging her legs over and landing on the ground next to her companions. And, unfortunately, directly on top of her lacrosse stick, which broke with an audible crunch. The other two gave her a look.

“Whoops!” Jasmine said, picking up one half of the lacrosse stick. Shawn sighed.

“We’ll have to get you another weapon, but that’ll do for now. Let’s get moving.”

* * *

By the time they made it to Jasmine’s host family’s house, the trio were feeling their soreness in full force. Sammy especially was a little wobbly on her feet. Shawn didn’t blame her, honestly. He didn’t know how long she’d been hanging on that rope, and she’d jumped right into helping them take down the undead horde. Not to mention, from the looks of it, she’d just finished with cheer practice. He’d be a little unsteady too.

Once they reached the house, Shawn took note of the houses around them. They looked mostly undisturbed, as did the rest of the street, but Shawn was well aware that looks could be deceiving. He relayed as much to his companions. “Make sure you keep quiet, alright? You never know how many zombies are lurking.”

Jasmine nodded as she turned her key on the lock, making sure to open the front door as carefully and quietly as possible. She stepped inside slowly, with Shawn and Sammy following after her, weapons at the ready. The house seemed empty, Shawn noted, as he gently nudged the front door shut behind him. He glanced around, mentally noting the locations of all of the windows, just in case.

“Hello? Sandra?” Jasmine called into the house, although not too loudly. “Bill? Georgia? Anyone home?”

There was no response. Shawn listened carefully for any sign of the dead, but he couldn’t hear that, either. The trio crept into the kitchen. This, too, was empty, but as he was glancing around, Shawn’s eye caught on a note on the fridge.

“Jasmine,” He said, pointing at the note. The girl in question looked over, before grabbing the note to read it. Shawn and Sammy shared a glance as Jasmine took it in.

“What’s it say?” Sammy asked, her voice sympathetic. Jasmine frowned, putting down the note.

“It says… that once they heard what was going on, they immediately packed up and headed for some uncle’s cabin in the mountains. They left an address, but the cabin’s miles from here, and I don’t have a car or anything. Not to mention… Once I got there, what would I do? Stay with them forever? Bill and Sandra are nice, and Georgia’s a sweet kid, but… I have my own family. I should find out if they’re okay.”

Sammy frowned. “Have you tried calling them?”

Jasmine shook her head. “Haven’t really had a breather since this all started, no. Plus, they were probably asleep up until now. I’ll try and give them a call now,” She said, pulling out her phone. Shawn and Sammy waited as Jasmine pulled up the contact and attempted to call her family. After a few seconds, Jasmine sighed in frustration.

“It’s not going through,” She said. “Damn it. I need to know they’re alright… They can hold their own, I know they can, but…” She slumped against the counter, and immediately Shawn was moving forward to comfort her.

“Hey, it’s alright. Listen, you’re kind of a survival expert, right?” Jasmine nodded. “Does your family have some sort of… I don’t know, emergency radio? I’ve watched a lot of survival videos, and that was kind of a must-have.”

Jasmine nodded again. “Yeah, my dad keeps one in his car.”

Shawn bit his lip thoughtfully. “I’ve got a radio with a much stronger signal at my place. We might be able to get through to them. And if it doesn’t work, I know I’ll be able to fix it so it can reach your family. Why don’t we head over there and get things figured out? Not to mention, I’ve got plenty of supplies, and it’s adequately fortified… I mean, you saw me picking up supplies this morning,” Shawn said, which got a laugh out of Jasmine.

“Well, we’ll definitely be set in the caffeine department,” Jasmine joked in spite of the tears welling in her eyes.

Sammy moved to her other side. “We’ll get you in touch with your family, Jasmine. Don’t worry. Plus, if they’re anything like you, they’re going to be more than okay. I’m sure of it,” She said. Jasmine nodded.

“Yeah, you’re both right,” She said, wiping her eyes with her sleeve. “Alright, then. Shawn, how far are we from your place?”

“Just another couple of blocks. Do you want to take anything with you from here?” He asked. Jasmine considered this for a moment, before nodding.

“One thing, yeah. Hold on just a sec, I’ll be quick,” She said, before heading for the stairs. Shawn nodded.

“Right, Sammy and I’ll just raid the cupboards,” He called up, and proceeded to do just that. A few moments later, Jasmine reappeared on the stairs, now sporting a bright orange and green friendship bracelet on her wrist.

“My sister made it for me,” She offered, and Shawn nodded.

“Right. Well, we should get going. It’s going to get dark soon, and you don’t want to be out in the dark when the undead are walking around.”

Jasmine laughed again, which made Shawn smile. “I’ll take your word for it.”

The trio set off for Shawn’s house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading!! comments and kudos are always appreciated :)


	2. Chapter 2

A few months later, they had yet to make contact with Jasmine’s family, and she was getting antsy.

Turns out, Shawn had been emancipated and was living in an apartment on his own. True to his word, his house was fortified, and full of supplies. As soon as they’d gotten to the house, they’d attempted to use the radio to contact Jasmine’s family, but it hadn’t worked, only picking up emergency broadcasts and nothing else. Shawn had been tinkering with it ever since, but after a couple of days, he admitted that he probably didn’t have the right parts. Sammy had asked where they might get the right parts, and Shawn said that the one he usually went to was quite a ways away.

The trio had barely left the apartment since that first day. As much as Jasmine wanted to leave and get the parts, to make sure her family was okay, it just wasn’t rational to leave. They had all the supplies they could need for a while, and although it had started to get even colder outside, the combination of four sturdy walls and Shawn’s collection of insulated sleeping bags and blankets was enough to keep them warm. Jasmine wasn’t used to the chill, and even she was comfortable. Still, the worry was eating at her.

Sammy and Shawn were good company, at least. Shawn had struck her as a bit odd at first, but it was charming in a way. Plus, his zombie knowledge had helped keep them alive so far. Sammy was sweet, if a little quiet at first, but after the first few weeks, she started to really come out of her shell. Turns out that she’d seen her fair share of zombie movies as well, so while Shawn and Jasmine could have long conversations regarding wilderness survival, he and Sammy could talk about the zombie movies that they both enjoyed. Jasmine liked hearing them talk about movies together. It was kind of adorable, honestly, how excited the pair got about fake zombie movies in the middle of a very real zombie apocalypse.

Sammy was Jasmine’s first real girl friend, and Shawn was the first guy she’d befriended who hadn’t been intimidated by her. Really, the two were just about the best people to be trapped in a tiny apartment, surviving off of ramen noodles with. Still, she hadn’t given up on fixing the radio.

A good ways into the winter, they started to run low on food. They were fine on water- and Red Bull- but their instant ramen, beef jerky, and Clif bars were all nearing the end of their supply.

“I really only stocked enough for one person to last a year, but now there’s three of us, we’re going to have to get more food eventually,” Shawn said one day after checking over the inventory. “It’s probably better to get out there sooner rather than later. We really don’t want to be caught without food. We should do a run in the next couple of days.”

“Are you sure it’s safe?” Sammy asked nervously. Shawn frowned.

“No, but it’s not going to get any safer in the next few weeks. The only thing that’ll change is that we’ll have less to fall back on in case we fail. If we start looking now, we’ll have time to check more than one place if the first one we check doesn’t work out,” He said, and Sammy nodded, steeling her nerves.

“That… does make sense.”

“Do you think we’d be able to swing by that radio shop while we’re out, Shawn?” Jasmine asked hopefully. Shawn sighed, considering this.

“Well, definitely not on foot… If we manage to find a working car, though, we should be able to. Plus, we’ll be able to carry a lot more supplies with us,” He paused for a second. “Alright, our first goal is to find a car. Preferably an older one, or a new one with the keys inside.”

Sammy frowned. “Why an old one?”

Shawn shrugged. “I know how to hot wire older cars. Newer ones are pretty much impossible.”

Jasmine raised an eyebrow. “Where’d you learn to do that?”

“Youtube, obviously. And WikiHow.”

Jasmine and Sammy shared a look. “Right. Obviously.”

“Anyway,” Shawn said, steering the conversation back on track. “We can head out later today in search of a car. Ideally, we find one today, and then go on our little shopping trip tomorrow. If not, we’ll give it another two, maybe three days of searching for a car, before just heading out for nearby stores on foot. Sound good?”

“Sounds good to me,” Jasmine replied, and Sammy nodded.

“Great!” Shawn said. “Let’s give it another couple hours for it to warm up a little more out there, and then we’ll head out.”

* * *

A couple of hours passed by quickly, and soon, they were gearing up to head outside for the first time in a while. Shawn had lent both Jasmine and Sammy lighter buffs, and heavier jackets to go overtop, as well as winter gloves. He’d also given them each large backpacks, just in case they came across some supplies in a house or car that they passed. Sammy had picked up the bat she’d taken from her school’s gym on the first day, and Shawn had his hockey stick strapped across his back. He also kept a decently sized hunting knife on his hip. Jasmine reached to take the broken half of her lacrosse stick from where she’d discarded it on the ground, but Shawn stopped her.

“You don’t want to be relying on that. Here,” He said, rifling through his closet before handing her a large sheathed blade. Jasmine pulled it out and looked at it for a moment, dumbfounded, before looking back at Shawn.

“This is a machete.”

“Yes.”

“And you just… used your money to buy it? A machete?”

“Yes.”

Sammy giggled in the background.

Jasmine cracked a smile. “Of course you did, Shawn. This is awesome. Thanks.”

Shawn rubbed the back of his neck. “It was nothing… like I said, you don’t want to be relying on a broken weapon. Sammy, do you want a smaller knife to go with your bat?” He offered. Sammy shrugged.

“It can’t hurt to have it on me, I guess,” She said. Shawn reached back into the closet and pulled out another knife. Did he just use that closet as a blade-storing space, Jasmine wondered?

“Here you go,” He handed the knife to Sammy, who attached the sheath to her backpack’s strap. “We should be ready to head out. Make sure you stay alert, and watch your back. And each others’ backs.”

“Got it,” Sammy nodded. And with that, Shawn led them out the door.

The hall outside of Shawn’s apartment was, thankfully, barren. The trio crept into the staircase, being careful to make as little sound as possible. Jasmine already felt the chill on her face, but thankfully, that was the only part of her that was exposed to the elements. Shawn’s gear was doing its job.

They encountered the first zombie near the bottom of the stairs. It was ambling forward slowly, and Shawn was easily able to push it over the railing.

“Huh. Guess they’re sensitive to the cold?” Sammy guessed. Shawn nodded.

“Seems like it. They’re moving a lot slower than they were the last time we saw them, so either they’re decaying, or it’s the cold. And that one looked pretty fresh, so my money’s on the cold.”

At the bottom of the stairs, Shawn poked the body he’d pushed over with his hockey stick to make sure it was really dead. Thankfully, it was unresponsive. The trio headed out into the lobby of Shawn’s building, which was again, thankfully empty, if a little overturned. They quickly crossed the lobby and headed outside.

“Let’s make sure we stick together,” Jasmine said as they took in their surroundings. There were a few lone zombies milling around, but for the most part, the street was empty. Most of the buildings on Shawn’s street were apartment buildings, with a barbershop, a bookstore, and a flower shop all across the street. Jasmine sighed when she saw the wilted flowers in the shop’s display window. She’d always wanted to open a combination flower shop and cage fighting school. It was a bit of an odd dream, sure, but she’d never been able to pick between the two. So, she figured she’d just do both.

There was none of that now, though. Not for the foreseeable future, at least. She forced herself to tear her eyes away from the shop and follow her friends.

“There’s a parking garage just around the corner. That should be a good place to start,” Shawn whispered.

It only took a couple of minutes to reach the garage, and Shawn stopped them before they entered. “It’s best to have your weapons at the ready.”

Jasmine pulled her new machete out of the sheath, and shifted its’ weight in her hand. It was kind of Shawn to let her use it. After all, he’d definitely bought it for himself. Jasmine liked the feel of it, she decided, as she gave it a few experimental swings. “Ready?” She asked after a moment. Her companions nodded.

“Ready.”

They crept into the garage, but it wasn’t long before they encountered zombies. About six of them were visibly milling around on the first level, and they seemingly hadn’t noticed the trio yet. Shawn gave a little signal, and the three of them ducked behind a car.

“Alright, I’ll take the two on the right. Jasmine, you’ve got the middle, and Sammy, you’ll take the ones closest to us. Be aware, there may be more nearby, so don’t let your guard down. Got it?” Shawn asked. Although she was nervous, and she could tell Sammy felt the same, they both nodded. “Great. Let’s go.”

Shawn didn’t waste a moment before charging out from behind the car. Jasmine took a second to follow his lead, and Sammy was behind her. Jasmine went for the first zombie easily, getting it right through its open mouth as it lunged toward her. The second one was a little trickier, as it was moving somewhat unnaturally, and she just managed to nick it rather than stab it. Jasmine took a few steps back, repositioning herself before trying again. This time, she managed to get her machete firmly lodged in the zombie’s head as it crumpled to the ground. It took a small effort to get the machete back out. Jasmine felt her lip curling in disgust at the sight of the zombie, so she looked instead at her friends.

Sammy was quite the whirlwind with that bat, maybe even more so than she’d been the day they met. It made sense, since that time she’d clearly been extremely worn out, but it was still quite the sight to see the tiny girl absolutely destroying the zombies around her with a baseball bat. Meanwhile, to her right, Shawn was similarly taking on the zombies, although he had a surprisingly agile approach. He’d opted to use his smaller knife rather than the hockey stick, and he was able to move in between the zombies with ease as he took them out.

Jasmine didn’t have much time to watch, though, as she noticed more zombies crawling out of the woodwork. She readied her weapon and thought quickly. The first one she went for was lunging for Shawn, who was busy pulling his knife out of a zombie’s eye. The second one she went for was going for herself, as was the third. She fell into an easy rhythm after that, keeping herself safe and fending off the ones that got too close to her friends, although mostly, she found herself helping Shawn. Sammy was quick with that bat, and unlike the knife Shawn was using, it didn’t get stuck. After what felt simultaneously like five minutes, and also an eternity, it seemed like they had fended off the zombies. Jasmine allowed herself to catch her breath, as did her companions.

“Thanks for having my back,” Shawn said with a grin. Jasmine nodded.

“No problem,” She put her machete back in its sheath. “Now, what do you say we check out these cars?”

Sammy grinned. “Isn’t that what we came here for?”

The first few cars they came across Shawn vetoed, since they were too new for him to realistically be able to do anything with them. About the seventh car they checked, though, was an old station wagon that Shawn felt confident he could work with. Shawn reached into his pocket and pulled out a small tool which he stuck in the lock of the car door and moved around for a few seconds. After that, the lock inside the car clicked, and Shawn pulled the door open.

“Boom. Step one, done,” He said. Jasmine had to admit, it was a little impressive. What was also impressive was that he’d thought to buy the tool in the first place, but hey. She wasn’t going to knock it when it had just potentially gotten them a car.

Shawn leaned into the car and began working on hot wiring the car from the front seat. Jasmine watched intently as he did so, but was pulled out of it when Sammy tugged on her sleeve.

“Heads up, zombies incoming,” She said, and Jasmine glanced over to see a handful of zombies ambling over.

“Oy, Shawn. We’re gonna deal with these guys while you keep doing that, alright?” She said. Shawn nodded, focusing on the car.

“Got it. Yell if there’s trouble,” He said. Jasmine and Sammy took that as their cue.

They made relatively quick work of the zombies, although one of them did get a little too close for comfort in Jasmine’s opinion. Still they’d cleared out the stragglers quickly. Jasmine was just making sure that the last zombie was dead, when she heard the sound of an engine sputtering to life. She and Sammy looked back at Shawn.

“Did it work?” She called. Shawn turned around and gave her two thumbs up.

“Yep! And get this- the tank’s still nearly full. And-“ He paused to rifle through the glove box, “There’s an unopened bag of Sour Patch Kids in here!”

Jasmine and Sammy shared an amused look. “Today’s our lucky day, I guess,” Sammy said with a grin. Shawn fixed her with a stern look.

“Don’t jinx it! But, yeah, things are looking pretty good,” Shawn paused to untwist the wires, and the car turned off. He grabbed the bag of Sour Patch Kids, stuffed it in his pocket, and the locked and closed the car door. “Anyway, we should be good to go tomorrow morning. We’ll get an early start, that way we can cover as much ground as possible. That means we should get to bed early, too.”

Jasmine raised an eyebrow. “Oh, so you’re not going to pull another all-nighter?”

“Nah. It’s best we’re all well rested tomorrow. I’m due for a full nights sleep, anyway.”

As they set off for the apartment, Jasmine felt a flutter of hope in her chest. For the first time in a while, she had a real chance at contacting her family. She fiddled with the bracelet around her wrist and smiled.

* * *

The next morning arrived quickly, and the trio were gearing up bright and early. Shawn went back to the garage and pulled the car back around. They loaded the station wagon with a small portion of their supplies, namely some food, water, flashlights, and their sleeping bags, as well as a crowbar that Shawn had bought a few months before the apocalypse. This was in case they got stuck out of their base for any amount of time. You never want to travel without food, water, or some sort of shield from the elements.

Sammy found a small first aid kit inside of the trunk, and pointed it out to Shawn. Shawn emptied the contents into his own larger first aid kit, which he put in the trunk, and then had Sammy run the empty container upstairs and leave it in their apartment. He never liked to throw away a perfectly good container.

Once everything was squared away, Shawn did one last pass over the apartment before locking the door behind him. He was careful not to leave anything he would mind losing permanently, since there was a chance the apartment could get raided while they were away, even in spite of his multiple padlocks. He checked the lock for a third and final time (you can never be too sure of these things), before heading back down through the lobby, and piling into the station wagon.

They’d decided that Shawn would drive up in the morning, and Jasmine would take them back, since Sammy had admitted that she never learned to drive. Jasmine had immediately offered to teach her, of course, but they’d all agreed that that could happen later, when they weren’t out looking for supplies.

“Alright. We’re all ready to go? You guys peed already, right?” Shawn asked. “Because we’re not stopping out in the open, and I don’t think any of the bathrooms we run into are going to be working or sanitary, so if you need to go from now on, it’s into this bottle,” He gestured at a plastic bottle in the cup holder.

“Ew!” Sammy said from the backseat, which made Jasmine laugh.

“You’ve bashed zombie heads together multiple times, and you’re grossed out by peeing into a bottle?”

Sammy frowned. “Well, when you say it like that…”

Shawn smiled. As much as he’d planned to strike out on his own in the apocalypse, he had to admit that being a part of their little group was both practical and nice. Shawn hadn’t really had too many friends before the apocalypse, and he hadn’t ever been particularly close with his family. It was nice, having people you cared about, and who cared about you. It was even nicer when they were able to hold their own against the zombie hordes.

He reached down and twisted the wires together again, grinning as the engine came to life. “Let’s go find some supplies!”

A few minutes into their drive, Jasmine digging through the glovebox, maybe looking for something to do. She brightened when she found a CD booklet. “Hey, Shawn! You mind if I play one of these CDs?”

Shawn shrugged. “Sure, as long as you’re not playing crap.”

Jasmine raised an eyebrow. “What qualifies as crap?”

He shrugged again in response, keeping his eyes on the road. “I dunno, just not any of that newer pop stuff. 80’s pop is fine, but, like, nothing past that.”

Sammy gave an indignant huff from the back seat. “Pop gets a bad rap, it’s not that bad.”

“Yeah, if you like repetitive and shallow lyrics, sure,” Shawn said nonchalantly. Sammy shook her head.

“Music’s not all about the lyrics, Shawn. Pop is popular for a reason, and that’s because it’s fun! And, you know, danceable?”

Jasmine snorted, interrupting their argument. “Yeah, none of that’s gonna be a problem. Looks like all they’ve got is classic rock and country. So, what’ll it be, Led Zeppelin or Johnny Cash?”

Shawn paused, considering the options. “Led Zeppelin seems like good zombie apocalypse music. I mean, I’m pretty sure I’ve heard them on some zombie movie soundtracks.”

Jasmine looked to Sammy for approval. “What do you think?”

Sammy shrugged. “I don’t really have a preference? Modern country is horrible, but Johnny Cash is good. Ooh, wait, do they have Dolly Parton?” She asked, perking up. Jasmine flipped through the CDs again.

“Yeah, actually.”

Sammy grinned. “Okay, we can play Led Zeppelin first, but after that, we have to do Dolly Parton.”

Shawn shrugged again. “Sounds good to me. Also, we’re only about ten minutes out from the first store.”

Jasmine popped the CD in the tray, and they spent the rest of the drive to their first stop in relative silence, with only the sounds of Led Zeppelin washing over the car, and occasionally, Shawn drumming his fingers on the steering wheel.

Their first stop was a combination pharmacy and general store that Shawn used to frequent. They’d be able to get toiletries as well as food, as long as it wasn’t completely picked over. After that, Shawn planned on hitting a couple local grocery stores, a camping supply store, and finally, the radio shop. He was feeling hopeful as he pulled into the pharmacy’s parking lot and took note of the fact that it seemed mostly undisturbed from the outside. Still, he didn’t want to let his guard down.

They got out of the car quickly and quietly, with Shawn motioning for them to come forward. There was a single zombie lingering in the parking lot. Jasmine signaled that she was going for it, before creeping up behind it and swiftly thrusting her machete through its head. As it crumpled to the ground, the other two moved forward to join her. They crept up to the main door and paused, peeking in through the window.

“It looks empty…” Sammy whispered. Shawn nodded.

“Yeah, that’s what it looks like. But in most zombie movies-“

“Places that look empty are almost never empty,” Sammy finished. Shawn nodded again.

“Yep. So, before you pick up anything, we’re gonna make sure the place really is clear. I’ve been here before, so I know the layout. Jasmine, Sammy, you sweep the aisles. I’ll get behind the counter, the bathroom, and the employee break room. Got it?” He asked. The other two nodded. “Good. Yell if you need anything.”

With that, Shawn pushed the door open, wincing as the bell above it jingled. He paused, listening, but he didn’t hear the sound of shuffling feet, or the telltale groans of the undead. Shawn noted that the store was significantly warmer than the outside. It was a welcome change. After a moment, before continuing into the store with the others following close behind.

As he crept toward the back of the store where the counter was, he took note of the shelves around them and relaxed slightly. They looked practically untouched from a normal day at the store. This place may have been far enough off the map that it hadn’t been completely picked over. That was, after all, why Shawn tended to go there.

He didn’t encounter any zombies in the aisle, but slowed his pace as he reached the counter. He readied his hockey stick and crept closer, taking a breath before finally looking over the counter. Shawn let out a sigh as he saw that the space behind the counter was free from any zombies, and then headed for the bathroom.

He’d never used it before, out of fear that he’d get cornered inside by zombies. The toilet was the last place you wanted to be when the zombies came, that’s for sure. He tried the handle, but it was locked. He could probably leave it alone, since the fact that it was locked meant that there might be something inside, but there was always the potential that it came back to bite him later. He sighed in resignation, before hopping over the counter and rifling around for the key. He found it on top of some supply boxes, and headed back to the bathroom.

Shawn glanced behind him and saw that Jasmine was searching nearby. “Heads up, the bathroom’s locked, so there could be something inside.”

“You’re going in?” Jasmine asked. Shawn nodded.

“Yeah, better safe than sorry.”

With that, he turned the key in the lock and opened the door. Immediately, he stumbled back at the smell. He’d dealt with the zombies before, but this was something else. They’d been mostly frozen and… preserved, for lack of a better word, but this one hadn’t had the same luxury. It ambled forward, arms outstretched. Shawn moved instinctively, swinging his hockey stick directly at the zombie. It landed with an uncomfortably wet noise that made him wince, but the zombie was merely thrown off-balance before it continued to advance.

Shawn wasted no time in swinging again, and then a third time, each time hearing that same squelching noise. When it finally crumpled, Shawn gave it one final swing to ensure that it really was down, before promptly keeling over to the side and throwing up.

In an instant, Jasmine was at his side, making sure he was alright, and making a similarly disgusted face at the smell.

“Ugh, god…” Shawn wiped his mouth and straightened up, giving Jasmine an appreciative look. “Thanks. I’ve seen zombie movies, and I’ve even killed zombies before. I’m good with the gore, but god, that smell is just…”

Jasmine laughed, then winced as she’d accidentally breathed in through her nose. “You don’t have to tell me.”

A few seconds later, Sammy appeared from between two shelves. “Are you alright? What’s that… ugh…” She said.

Jasmine sighed. “Shawn, let me borrow your hockey stick for a sec. I think we should put that back in the bathroom.”

Shawn nodded wordlessly, handing Jasmine his weapon. He glanced down at the zombie, taking in its appearance for the first time. It was pretty decayed, but his eyes caught on a name tag on its shirt that was now spattered with blood.

“Hang on… that’s Devon. He used to be a cashier here…” He said under his breath. He’d barely had a conversation with the guy, only exchanging the occasional “good morning” or “have a nice day”, but Shawn still felt a pang of sadness. It surprised him a bit. He hadn’t realized it until now, but he did sort of miss seeing the familiar faces of the cashiers and classmates he’d interacted with on a regular basis. Huh.

“I’m sorry, Shawn,” Sammy said, after Jasmine had pushed the body back into the bathroom and closed the door. Shawn shook his head.

“No, I’m fine. I didn’t really know him. It’s just… weird. Seeing him like that. I’ve always kind of pictured it, but when it’s real…” He frowned. “I don’t know. He just deserved better, I guess.”

Jasmine placed a hand on his shoulder. “Well, Sammy and I’ve checked out the aisles, and they’re all clear. You want a hand with that break room?”

Shawn nodded. “Yeah. That’d be good, thanks.”

Jasmine handed him back his hockey stick and took the lead as they headed for the break room. Unlike the bathroom, this room was unlocked when Jasmine tried the handle. It swung open to reveal a small group of the undead, looking almost as decayed as Devon, who began to stumble towards the trio.

Immediately, they leapt into action, and in spite of Shawn still feeling a little off, he had no trouble fighting off the zombies. There weren’t too many of them, all things considered, and as much as he felt like he was about to hurl again, he’d pretty much gotten it out of his system already. It only took a few minutes to take out the rest of the zombies.

“Alright, let’s just close this room off, too,” Jasmine said, and the other two put up no argument. Once they were back in the main store, Shawn took the lead again.

“Okay, so we should probably move fast. Go for anything non-perishable, and I’ll definitely be getting some of these,” He gestured toward the drugs behind the pharmacy counter. “Sound good?” The other two nodded. “Great, let’s do this.”

Shawn wasted no time in hopping over the counter and into the pharmacy area. First, he went for his own spot on the shelf and grabbed his own medication, before just swiping various drugs at random. He made sure to get painkillers and cold medicine, as they would probably be the most useful in general. Before heading back into the rest of the store, he took a handful of five hour energy, as well as a few packs of gum from the counter’s display.

Once he was back in the rest of the store, he went down an aisle that the other two didn’t seem to have covered yet, picking up various packages of trail mix, jerky, dried fruit, and chips. In the next aisle over, he heard Sammy gasp.

“They have apple juice! I’m totally taking this!” Shawn found himself smiling instinctively at her excitement.

The next aisle he checked had a small section for canned soup, which Shawn completely cleared out. They’d run out of soup pretty early on, since it had been a while since he’d restocked, and it was one of his favorite meals.

He turned into another aisle and saw Jasmine loading granola bars into her bag. Shawn joined her, grabbing some for his own.

“Find anything good?” Jasmine asked with a grin. Shawn smiled, feeling his face flush slightly. After living together for a few months, his initial crush on Jasmine was still going strong.

“I found some soup, thank god. I missed that shit so much.”

Jasmine laughed. “Tell me about it. Ever since we ran out of the mint Clif bars, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about them. They always were my favorites.”

“Mine too,” Shawn agreed. Just then, Sammy appeared at the end of the aisle, her hands behind her back.

“Shawn, guess what I found?” She asked. Shawn shrugged.

“What?”

“Sour Patch Kids!” She revealed that there were indeed two giant bags of Sour Patch Kids in her hands. Shawn’s eyes widened.

“No way, you found the party sized bags?” He asked. Sammy nodded.

“Yeah, and that’s not all. They’ve got Reeces too!” She grinned, and hurried back to, presumably, the candy aisle. Shawn let out a sigh of contentment. It had been ages since he’d had candy, since they’d burned through his stash in the first couple of weeks. That had been the one thing he was constantly restocking before the apocalypse, alongside caffeine, of course.

Finally, Jasmine and Shawn found themselves in the toiletry aisle. Shawn immediately went for the pads, then hand sanitizer, while Jasmine grabbed soap and deodorant. They both grabbed toothpaste and a few toothbrushes, before their bags were practically bursting. Shawn moved to leave, but paused and swiped a pack of toilet paper, not even bothering to put it in the bag. Jasmine did the same, and then they moved back to the front of the store.

“Sammy, you ready?” Jasmine called.

“Coming!” Sammy replied, appearing almost instantly, her bag looking even more full than both Jasmine’s and Shawn’s. She took notice of the toilet paper in both of their arms, and then glanced back at the aisle they’d come out of. “Oh, should I get some toilet paper too?”

Jasmine shrugged. “Can’t hurt, can it?”

Sammy grabbed the first thing of toilet paper she saw, and then joined them again. “Alright, now we’re ready. I’d say that was a success.”

Shawn grinned, heading out toward their parked car. “I’d say so too, actually. And it was only our first stop of the day. If we’re lucky, we’ll only have to stop at one of the grocery stores I’d planned on hitting. This turned out better than expected.”

* * *

The next few stops didn’t go quite as well. The first grocery store they stopped at was overrun, and while they managed to actually get inside the second, it was mostly picked over. The camping supply shop fared slightly better, with a few camping meals and general supplies remaining, although there were whole sections of the store that were completely cleared out. Shawn did manage to snag a new hat, however, which was a welcome replacement of his old toque. Even while he did his best to wash it, there wasn’t really any hope of it getting fully clean at this point.

Their final stop of the day was the radio shop. Shawn didn’t expect it to be too picked over, and he was right about that, at least. However, what he hadn’t been expecting was for the whole place to be packed with the living dead.

“Well, this is a major setback,” He grumbled. Jasmine glanced at him, worried.

“We can still get in, right?” She asked. Shawn frowned. All of his self-preservation instincts were telling him to just get as far away from this place as possible. But this was important to Jasmine. She needed to know that her family was alright. He swallowed thickly.

“This is more zombies than we’ve ever handled at once, but… I think we can take them. We’re a strong team, and we’ve done this before, if on a smaller scale. I think we can do this.”

Immediately, he saw the change in Jasmine’s expression. All traces of doubt were wiped clear. Shawn could only hope that her confidence wasn’t misplaced. He glanced at Sammy, who looked slightly more nervous than Jasmine, but still determined. Shawn steeled his nerves. If they were all in, he was all in. This was for Jasmine.

He pulled his hockey stick out. “Alright, on my count. Three… two… one… go!” He burst in through the doors, going for zombies as quickly as possible. These were the slower, less decayed zombies he was used to, which was a relief. Small blessings, at least. Almost immediately, Shawn fell into a rhythm of taking down the zombies, never letting his guard down for a second. He swung his hockey stick with precision and force, and found himself taking out far more zombies in a single hit than he had in the past.

A quick glance to his right saw that his companions were faring just as well. Taking down zombies had apparently started to become muscle memory for the three of them. It wasn’t long before the entire room was cleared. Shawn finally paused to catch his breath.

“Wow…” Sammy breathed. Jasmine chuckled.

“Still can’t get over seeing a little thing like you absolutely destroy those creeps with that bat,” She said. Sammy raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah? I mean, that was kind of your first impression of me, so I figured you’d be used to it by now.”

Jasmine grinned. “No, my first impression of you was when I caught you when you fell from that rope.”

An expression Shawn couldn’t name flickered over Sammy’s face for an instant, but it was gone before he could figure out what it was. “Yeah, well, you should probably get used to me kicking ass, then, because I don’t plan on stopping.”

Jasmine chuckled at that. “Ah, you’re a riot,” She said, before turning to Shawn. “What’re we looking for, here?”

“Don’t worry, I can get it. You both just stand watch,” He said, before heading for one of the back counters. He grabbed a few things he might need, as well as an even more powerful radio that he’d had his eye on before the apocalypse hit, but hadn’t saved enough for, before turning back to the pair.

“Alright, that should be it. Ready to head back?” He asked. Jasmine shot him a big thumbs up.

“Absolutely. And, thanks, both of you. I know this was a risk, and out of our way, but it means a lot.”

Shawn grinned bashfully. “It was nothing. This is important to you, of course we’re going to help.”

“What Shawn said,” Sammy smiled, wearing a similar expression. It only made Jasmine smile wider.

“Oh, come here, both of you,” She said, before pulling them both into a hug. It was a little gross, since they were all covered in zombie bits and also hadn’t showered in quite some time, but Shawn found that he didn’t really mind.

They pulled apart a few seconds later, and headed back for the car. Jasmine took the drivers seat, and Shawn looked forward to relaxing in shotgun. Jasmine was just about to pull out of the parking lot, when Sammy stopped her.

“Wait. Do you guys see that?” She asked. Shawn peered out the window, and his eyes widened when he saw a huge black mass in the distance.

“What even is that?” Jasmine asked. Shawn blanched.

“Oh, no…” He said, squinting. “Is that…?”

“What? What is it?” Jasmine asked. Shawn shook his head.

“Looks like a real horde,” He said quietly.

Sammy frowned. “And it’s headed our way.”

Jasmine started to look almost as nervous as Shawn felt. “Do you think we can outrun it?” She asked. Shawn frowned.

“Maybe, but it’s coming from the direction we want to go.”

“Still, it’s not like we can just turn back. We have to keep moving. Or, I guess we could wait it out, but we might get cornered,” Sammy offered. “Moving is our best bet.”

Shawn sighed deeply. “Alright, yeah. Jasmine? We’ve got to keep moving.”

Jasmine nodded. “Right. Well, here’s hoping this works,” She said, pulling out of the parking lot and driving away from their shared apartment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments and kudos are always appreciated <3 take care!!


End file.
